World Bank announces new project improving access to solid waste management services in the West Bank – Press release

840,000 Palestinians to Benefit from Improved Solid Waste Management Services in the West Bank

Arabic text:  العربية

Ramallah, September 2, 2013 – A new project will improve access to solid waste management services in the West Bank. 840,000 Palestinians in Hebron and Bethlehem governorates will have access to better quality and more affordable waste collection. The World Bank, administrator for the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), will support the Palestinian Authority with the US$8.3million grant for the project.

“Unsanitary waste collection and disposal is a serious issue in Hebron and Bethlehem, particularly for the poor living close to unregulated dumpsites at the edge of towns and villages. The grant will improve the quality and the efficiency of the solid waste management system and consequently will help protect the environment and health of citizens,” said Mariam Sherman, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza.

Subsidies will be provided to the service providers – Municipalities and Village Councils, the Joint Services Councils for Planning and Development, the Joint Services Council of Hebron as well as of Bethlehem – to improve the solid waste management collection services and to promote financial sustainability of the solid waste management system.

“The project is one of the first to use the output-based aid approach (OBA) – the OBA subsidy will serve as an incentive to the service provider who will receive it if they meet performance targets. The grant will provide much needed support to the local authorities and will foster sustainable solid waste management services,” said Carmen Nonay, Manager, GPOBA. 

Hebron and Bethlehem are the poorest governorates in the West Bank and generate 20 percent of the area’s total solid waste. While primary service collection is carried out, the fiscal and institutional constraints significantly affect the quality and the sustainability of the system. The project aims to improve the quality and cost-recovery of waste management, including sanitary disposal and treatment.

The OBA approach provides well-designed incentives to increase service quality which in turn will affect customer willingness to pay and gradually recover costs borne by the service providers. The OBA subsidy will phase out after four years of the newly constructed landfill’s operations at Al Minya, when user revenues will sufficiently cover the increased costs of adequate service delivery.

“The performance mechanism provides incentives to achieve efficient collection, transportation, proper use of disposal facilities, and appropriate planning and monitoring through a modern integrated Management Information System for affordable and safe management of waste, including dangerous waste. The performance scorecard system will systemically track progress and will help our member municipalities to learn from one another, and possibly others in the region,” said Dr. Daoud Zaatari, Mayor of Hebron, Chairman, Joint Services Council for Hebron and Bethlehem.

The OBA pilot is part of the larger Southern West Bank Solid Waste Management Project, supported by the World Bank, the European Union and other donors, following the successful implementation of a similar project in the Northern West Bank. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is supporting JSC-H&B through a public-private partnership to manage the new sanitary landfill and related facilities. IFC is also providing technical support to JSC-H&B to assist with the start-up and implementation of both the World Bank and GPOBA-funded projects.

********
GPOBA is a global partnership program established in 2003 and administered by the World Bank. It is a multi-donor trust fund used to develop OBA approaches across a variety of sectors including infrastructure, health, and education. Its portfolio of 36 OBA pilot projects, for which a cumulative total of $92.5 million in disbursements has been made, has provided access to basic services to more than four million poor beneficiaries.

Contacts:
GPOBA in Washington: Saúl E. González, tel. (+1) 202 473 2378, sgonzalez1@worldbank.org
World Bank in West Bank and Gaza: Mary Koussa, tel. + (972) 2-2366500, mkoussa@worldbank.org

For more information on GPOBA, please visit:  www.gpoba.org

For more information on the World Bank’s work in the West Bank, please visit:
www.worldbank.org/we